Built around a pastor’s week
A library for your sermons, lessons, and articles, a calendar for your services, and a directory for your people, rather than a finance-first or large-church dashboard.
Why Ministrative?
Less administration. More ministry.
There are many good church-management platforms, including some that are genuinely free. Ministrative isn’t trying to replace every one of them. I made it for pastors who want a practical place for their own daily ministry work, on their own computer, with no software subscription.
Free, not a subscription
Free for everyone, with no subscription, no trial, and nothing to renew.
Your PC, no server
It installs like an ordinary Windows program. There is no database or web server to set up, and it runs without the internet apart from an optional once-a-day check for a new version.
Your records are kept in a folder on your computer, and member details are encrypted there with a key tied to your Windows account. That is not the same as a backup, so keep your own. Settings, Backup & Export makes a password-locked copy of your whole library.
Compare options
Cost, where it runs, and what it takes to start.
Last reviewed: . Each name links to the page I read. Prices change, so please check the vendor’s own site before you decide.
| Product | Cost | Where it runs | Setup needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ministrative | Free for everyone. In public beta. | Windows 10 and 11 desktop app. Your records stay on your PC. | Run the installer and create a local password. No server or database. Windows will warn that the publisher is unknown. |
| Congregation Hub | Free. The site says everything is free except text messages (3 cents each) and an optional dedicated number ($5 to $10 a month). | Web in any browser, an iPhone app, and an Android beta. | Sign up free online. No further setup steps are described on the page. |
| B1 Church | Free, including hosting, with no church-size cap, per the vendor. | Hosted by B1 on the web. The open-source code can also be self-hosted. | Create an account online. Check-in needs Android tablets if you use it. |
| ChurchCRM | No license fee and no subscription. You may pay a host for the server, domain, and backups. | A web app on PHP and MySQL hosting that you or your church manage. | PHP 8.4 or newer, MySQL 8.0+ or MariaDB 10.5+, and Apache or nginx, installed by you or a host’s installer. |
| ChurchManager | Free to use. A donation is suggested but never required. Public beta. | Windows desktop app. | MariaDB Server for Windows must be installed separately. The vendor advises testing with backups. |
| Planning Center | The People database is free and unlimited. Other products have free tiers with limits, and paid plans beyond them. | Online, with a member app and web platform (Church Center). Hosting is not described on the pricing page. | Not verified. |
| ChMeetings | Free plan for up to 50 active people. Paid plans start at $12 a month. | Cloud-hosted by the vendor. | Not verified. |
| FlockBase Desktop | Membership: $139 to purchase, plus a $99 annual fee after the first 12 months of updates and support. | Described as desktop software for an offline format. The page does not state the operating system. | Not verified. |
| ChurchTrac | From $29 a month for up to 75 names. Higher tiers cost more. | A web account and a mobile app. Whether it is hosted is not stated on the pricing page. | Not verified. |
| Church Windows | Desktop plans from $19 a month for one module, up to $59 for four. A web version costs more. | Desktop or web, depending on the plan. Operating system not stated on the pricing page. | Not verified. |
“Not verified” means the page I read didn’t say, not that the answer is no. Prices are examples from public pages on the date above, and some are for one module or a starting tier rather than a whole suite. Free software can still carry costs, such as hosting, texting, payment processing, or your own backups.
Honestly
Is it a good fit?
A good fit if
You are a pastor or teacher, alone or with a small team, who wants one place on your own Windows PC for your sermons and lessons, your calendar, and your member directory, and you don’t want a monthly bill or a server to run.
Maybe not if
You need online giving, a church website, a member app, or several people working in the same records over the internet. Ministrative does none of those, and the hosted platforms above are a better choice. Bulletins, prayer requests, and teaching schedules aren’t in the first release either, and neither is writing sermons inside the app. It only runs on Windows.
Want to try it?
Leave your email and I’ll write once when Ministrative is ready to install. No newsletter, and no online account needed.